2013 Legislative Session Set to Begin

Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Monday kicks off the 2013 session of the South Carolina General Assembly.

House members and Senators have already organized themselves into committees and leadership roles and many are hoping to tackle some issues they couldn't resolve last year as well as some things that came up after the session ended.

A big priority for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle--and Governor Nikki Haley as well-is ethics reform. Several committees in both chambers and a commission ordered by Haley have all held meetings working to create and propose legislation to address ethics concerns in the state.

Another issue is the state's cyber security. After several security breaches including one at the State Department of Revenue, groups in the House and Senate are investigating what happened so they can craft legislation to make sure we don't see anything like that again.

As for some things that didn't get taken care of last year, Governor Haley is still pushing a Department of Administration. Some argue that creating this new cabinet-level agency would streamline government and bring many features and functions like fleets and computer technology under one umbrella. The House and Senate came close on this issue last year, but it failed in the end.

On her legislative priorities for the year a statement from Governor Haley's spokesman Rob Godfery said "Ethics reform, cyber security across state government and infrastructure are also among our highest priorities and the governor won't stop fighting the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion that we don't want and can't afford."